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Marshall and Morehead St. play Wednesday

HUNTINGTON — J.P. Kambola was the next man up in Marshall Thundering Herd men’s basketball head coach Tom Herrion’s rotation.

Marshall was missing two inside players last weekend with Rob Goff and Yous Mbao knocked out of action after a collision in practice left them both with significant head injuries.

Herrion didn’t hesitate sending Kambola into the game early, even knowing the 6-foot-9, 240-pound sophomore had been in only two games this season for a total of six minutes and appeared in just nine games last season for 13 minutes.

“He’s a good player,” Herrion said. “He just hasn’t gotten to play that much. I had faith in him and he gave us real good minutes.”

Kambola played for a career-hgih seven minutes in the first half. He returned for one minute of the second half, hitting a baseline jump shot that put Marshall ahead by 19 with 14:24 remaining in an 89-82 defeat of the Nevada Wolf Pack.

Goff and Mbao are sidelined indefinitely, so Kambola will likely be hearing his name called again.

“A couple guys went down, so I had to step up,” said Kambola, who has career statistics of 12 game appearances, 27 minutes played, six points, five rebounds and one blocked shot.
“Coach prepared me. He said be ready.”

Morehead State (4-2) visits Marshall (3-3) at 7 p.m., Wednesday in the 94th meeting all-time between schools separated by about one hour on I-64. The teams play for the Ellis Johnson Trophy, a traveling prize awarded to the winning team.

It’s the renewal of a rivalry that was discontinued after the last meeting on Dec. 1, 2007.